France flies three illegal Afghan immigrants back to Kabul

Paris - France has flown three Afghan citizens, who were illegally on French soil, to the Afghan capital Kabul, Immigration Minister Eric Besson said Wednesday. The flight, made jointly with British authorities, left Paris's Charles de Gaulle Airport near midnight Tuesday and was the first such "charter" carrying forcibly expelled immigrants from France back to their home country in four years.

It was not clear how many Afghans expelled from Britain were on the plane.

Besson told Europe 1 radio that the three men would be returning to Kabul, "where there is no threat to their physical safety."

But a broad alliance of charities working with immigrants have mounted a vocal opposition to the flights, saying they contravened the European Declaration of Human Rights because they exposed the returning Afghans to war and terrorism.

On October 6, a planned flight of illegal immigrants to Afghanistan was annulled when the European Court of Human Rights suspended the forced expulsion of seven Afghans on a technicality.